21 Jump Street

Watching Wheeler in his jumper makes me jealous. He gets so excited and squeals with delight just to bounce up and down and up and down. And each time he spins around and makes eye contact with me he seems to say "this thing is awesome you should totally try it mom".
Well dear boy... I wish they had one in my size. But even if they did I don't think I would enjoy it as much as you do because I would be too busy noticing the dog hair on the floor that I need to sweep up, the dishes in the sink I hadn't washed yet, and the pile of laundry waiting for me around the corner in the bedroom. Being a grown up gets distracting...

* note to self: learn to enjoy simple things more and remember to see them through the big sweet eyes of your child.

Oh Canada...

Last week Wheeler and I took his first trip up to visit family in Canada. Matt was working out on a rig so we braved the 4 hour airplane ride just the two of us, and despite a few teary moments from the pressure change and loud airplane noises we made it there and back in one piece. The trip was short but sweet... a few days in Calgary visiting cousins, aunts and uncles, then the rest of the week in Lethbridge with Nana & Papa. It was great to see everyone... even if just for a few minutes, and we are excited to go back for a longer visit in a few months with Daddy & Murphy (yes we are driving the 36 hours... and it is yet to be determined if that is a good idea or not.)
Here are some pictures of last weeks trip! Enjoy!

Getting wiggles out while waiting to board the plane. We were lucky to have the seat next to us empty so I didn't have to hold my 20 pound sack of potatoes the entire flight...

Hanging out with cousin Zack after his baptism. *note the matching star wars t-shirts... classic Swan boy style.

Sweet cousin Emma at the baptism.

A little overtired after a long day with lots of new faces. (ps. Sara you skinny mini... gain some weight or you arent aloud to hold our baby again this summer. You are giving him a complex.)

Trying to figure out how to wrap Nana around his little finger like his cousin Anna does...

Meeting Great Grandma & Grandpa Edwards. He was such a good boy for them, and for Great grandma Leavitt too!

Water baby

One of the best parts of living in Texas is the beautiful warm weather, and the fact that you can swim from April through October! Here are a few pictures of our water baby swimming for the first time with daddy, and at the beach for the first time with mommy and auntie Kristi.

mcfatty Monday- #1

One of the random blogs I am currently creeping is "heir to blair". The author cracks me up, and is a really identifiable writer. One of her posts is called Mcfatty Monday, and is a narrative of her progress in her goal to lose her baby weight. She checks in every week and uses the blog to keep her motivated/accountable.
Sounds like a good idea to me and my stretch marked muffin top... so I am going to give it a shot too (apart from the every week thing. I don't blog that much, and so will try to do a monthly update instead.)
So here it is Jan's Mcfatty Monday #1.
*First can I just preface this whole thing by saying that dieting sucks. I'm not big on counting calories, or salads. I don't like special K, and I'm too cheap to eat massive amounts of meat. I definitely fall under the emotional eater category. And my two comfort foods are muffins ( ironically) and of course ice cream.  I have recently discovered the wonders of coffee flavored ice cream (sorry mom) and it is a bonus because it gives me a buzz masking how exhausted I really am most days. Anyway, what was my point...? oh yeah, dieting sucks and I am not good at it.

So my goal in this is obviously to lose some of the extra fat I stored up over the last 9 months. In full disclosure I gained close to 40 pounds with this pregnancy/during fertility treatments leading up to the pregnancy, and I have only lost about 25 of that so far. So... I guess a good concrete goal is to lose the remaining 15 pounds. I'm mindful  that dieting can affect your milk supply, and since I am still "feedbagging" it according to Darrell, I am going to take it slow and try to drop no more than 5 pounds a month. Since I am not a dietitian and have really never tried to consciously lose a set amount of weight before... I figure I will just try 3 random dieting techniques/strategies each month and then see in the end which fit best into my lifestyle and help me lose the weight without making me too annoyed.
My strategies for the first month are: #1 no more soda,  #2 eat more vegetables than carbs in a day, and  #3 do at least 45 minutes of low impact exercise every day. ( I am NOT a runner, and have no intention of pretending to be one so keep that bandwagon moving away from me.) At the end of this month we will see if my 3 strategies have worked and  if I have stuck to them.  I am of course open to suggestions, and would love to hear what worked well for you to lose baby weight or sympathy weight. Wish me luck!